Broken

Like Father...

I came to feeling rough hands caressing my chest. I attempted to pull away, knowing they weren't Malcolm's hands but found I was unable. Heavy metal chains held my wrists to metal chair arms at my sides. I tried to move my feet but couldn't.
"Don't touch me." I muttered.
One of the hands reached out and grabbed my throat forcing me to look up at him.
"Do you have any idea what I could do to you right now? You can't fight me while we have Malcolm in our sights." Bryce spat his name at me his angry eyes boring into mine.
"I should just kill him anyway..." He lowered his face to just inches from mine.
His hand continued caressing my chest causing me to shiver with disgust and he tightened his grip around my throat.
I barely heard the gunshot before I was covered in his blood. I looked down at Bryce's lifeless body lying on the floor with an obvious gunshot wound to the side of his head. I turned my head to see Nicholas Endicott standing in the doorway holding a gun in his hand, smoke still rising from the barrel.
"Hello, Lilian. Now that we're alone the fun can begin." He said.
"I do apologize, Dr. Russell. I must admit I'm not normally one to get my hands dirty but you... you are just so damn special." Nicholas told me replacing the pistol in it's holster on his hip and walking towards me.
"What do you mean 'special'?" I asked.
"First, you should know that right this minute, poor Malcolm is walking into his apartment to find your blood soaking the bed and spattered on the walls as Major Crimes responds to a report of terrified screams coming from the apartment." He smirked at me.
"My blood?" I shook my head in confusion.
A medical grade IV in my arm caught my eye.
"You're framing him for my murder?"
"A pint of blood is hardly enough to prove murder. Although..." He trailed off.
He lashed out with a knife stabbing me straight through the top of my left shoulder.
"Can't have blood with no wound, can we?" He asked twisting the knife in my shoulder.
I hissed in pain but refused to scream out.
"You think you're so strong." Nicholas hissed at me as he ripped the blade back out.
"I'm stronger than you. Malcolm is too."
"I wonder how strong he'll be if he believes you're gone? What about when they finally find your body?" He smiled at me.
"What do you mean she's not out here?" Dani asked Malcolm with a sigh after the ambulance took Eddie away.
JT swept the parking lot finding Lily's car in the same spot she'd parked it in when they pulled up earlier.
"Her car's still here." He told them walking back to where they stood.
"Something's wrong, Dani. I can feel it. She wouldn't just walk off and leave us here. What are you doing?" Malcolm rambled as she pulled out her phone.
There was distant ringing down a side alley. Malcolm rushed down to where the phone lay next to a dumpster. Visible blood dripped from the lip of the dumpster caught his eye.
"Dani! JT!" He called their names, fear strangling his voice.
"I need CSU in the alley outside Claremont Psychiatric Hospital and send Lieutenant Gil Arroyo to the same location." JT said into his cellphone as Dani tried to calm Malcolm.
If it was Lily's blood he would be their only hope of finding her alive.
"If you're going to kill me you could at least tell me the truth. Tell me what you've done." I insisted watching him run his knife over three syringes on the tray to my left.
"It's a thirty year long story. We should probably get started. I have a dinner date with your mother in law this evening." He chuckled twirling the knife in his hand.
He dragged the blade across my chest along the base of my throat creating a long shallow cut.
"It started in my late twenties. It was easy to start my own business with Endicott as my last name. I'm not ashamed to say I made my fortune off of the inheritance I was left from my parents who died in a car accident when I was eighteen." He drove the knife into my left bicep just deep enough to slit the muscle fibers as he dragged it down towards my elbow.
"They were my first. It was easy. Puncture the brake line and just wait until they failed. It was ruled an accident in the early eighties. Nearly no investigation at all, can you believe that? Roughly ten years later I employed five different people who were insanely loyal. They did anything and everything I asked."
"Threats and intimidation will do that. You don't say no to Nicholas Endicott." I hissed repeating what both Martin and Sophie told me and he stabbed into me again just under the very first stab wound.
It was obvious his goal wasn't to kill me with the knife. He had another plan for my actual murder.
"It's better to be feared than respected." He shrugged jamming the blade into my side just below my ribcage.
It took everything I had not to give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream in pain.
"That's just one of the many areas where we differ." I spat at him.
"Can't account for taste." He shot at me running the knife along my jawline.
"How many have you killed?" I asked able to feel the blood running down my neck and chin.
"I've only personally killed three people. My parents, Bryce... Oh, and soon you so that'd be four, but no one will ever find out about any of that, will they? I've ordered well over five hundred murders in nearly thirty years in over ten of the eastern states." He admitted smirking at me twirling the knife between his fingers.
"My life's best achievement by far, however, was sending my friend Bryce here to abduct Esme Pritchard from Colorado." He kicked Bryce's body beside him.
"He brought her here to me and we decided that burning her alive would be the most shocking way to kill her. I let Bryce have his fun with her first, of course. We made her write that letter and sent it to the FBI office in your name from Colorado before dumping her body. It took us longer to track down Owen Woods since he was never charged but we did, and on time too. Owning the state's DNA lab is much more lucrative than my attorney thought it would be, and his murder was just as sweet. Following your parents to Cairo was incredibly simple for Bryce. They still favored him over you and the look on their faces when they came to much like this added a level of excitement for him. You made getting to your dear brother Evan very difficult. I never intended for Agent Rowland to be a casualty. However, all's fair in love and war." He rambled on laying the knife down and picking up the first syringe.
"Why? Why go through all this to get to me?" I asked.
"It was clear in the beginning that Malcolm is Martin Whitly's golden child and it didn't take long to realize that you, my dear, are the most important person to young Malcolm. The best way to destroy him is to destroy you. Speaking of..."
He pulled the cap off the syringe in his hand.
"This is the first of a very specific blend of substances used by Dr. Whitly during his fifteen year reign of terror. It seems only fitting that his son would soon choose to kill you the same way his father killed his victims." He explained.
"No one will believe he hurt me." I hissed.
"Maybe. Maybe not. The evidence will be overwhelming, however. I'll make sure of that." He reached forward and inserted the needle into my IV.
"This first step is designed to render the victim almost completely paralyzed. You'll begin to feel your body go numb almost immediately but you'll still be very aware of your surroundings and what's going to happen next."
"Why Eve?" I asked trying to keep my voice calm while my mind was frantic, he was right.
It started in my fingertips and toes and radiated as the numbness took over my whole body.
"Oh, well that's easy. I can't have anyone asking questions about my former employees. Let alone her young sister. Eve came back to New York to find you, to help you ruin me. I certainly couldn't have that now, could I?" He asked looking at me picking up the second of three syringes.
My mind continued to race and I found I wasn't able to speak anymore. Martin Whitly was known for experimenting with his victims, hence the stabbings Nicholas was subjecting me to.
Vanessa Lange was The Surgeon's first known victim. She was seemingly tortured with a knife before being murdered by a unique drug cocktail that slowly shut down the nervous system followed by the respiratory system leading to a slow, painful death.
"This one is going to light your nerves on fire. I can't imagine the joy The Surgeon got from watching his victims ache to scream out in pain and not being able to." He chuckled injecting the second drug into my IV.
It didn't even take a second for the pain to rip from the IV site in my arm through my entire body. I couldn't move to try to negate my pain. I couldn't scream. All I could do was feel it.
"I guess even the great Lilian Russell has a breaking point." He feigned sorrow wiping a single tear from my face as my body continued to scream out.
"Now, as fun as this has been. I have been itching to brag about my empire, you know. This final concoction is going to slowly shut down your respiratory system." He said picking up the final syringe.
"Without further ado..." He inserted the needle into the IV bag, injecting the concoction into the saline as opposed to directly into my vein.
"It'll take between forty five minutes and an hour to empty into your system and slowly shut down your respiratory system. It'll be excruciating I'm sure. Too bad I can't stay to watch. I have to make my dinner date after all." He smirked opening the IV.
The liquid began it's decent into my veins.
"I'd love to say it's been a pleasure, Dr. Russell but that'd be a lie."
He left me alone in the room with Bryce's body closing the door behind him. I managed to slightly move my arm fighting against the mixtures of drugs working in my system but the chain around my wrist was so tight I wasn't able to maneuver my wrist to try to dislodge the IV from my arm. I was only able to watch the fluid enter my vein as I struggled weakly and helplessly against my bindings. At first there was only a minimal burning sensation similar to frostbite in my lungs as I realized that I wasn't able to take deep enough breaths. Shortly thereafter, it was getting even harder to breathe. My chest tightened and my lungs screamed for oxygen I couldn't give them. I managed to look up and noticed that the IV bag was roughly half empty. I was beginning to lose consciousness. All I could think about was how I didn't know how to make sure that Malcolm wasn't charged in my murder.
Suddenly, I felt a small hand on my shoulder but I couldn't force open my eyes anymore.
"Lily? Shit!" A familiar voice exclaimed from somewhere in front of me.
"Sophie?" I forced myself to mutter her name weakly.
She ripped the IV out of my arm. I felt pressure in my chest. My eyes shot open as I gasped. It all happened at once. The numbness disappeared, the pain ceased, and I could breathe.
Sophie knelt in front of me her eyes wide with concern, a large syringe sticking out of the center of my chest. She waited cautiously as I took several deep gasping breaths.
"What happened? What did you give me?" I asked finally looking at her.
"It was the antidote mixed with a small dose of adrenaline. Endicott's used that concoction before as a 'training exercise'. Your Malcolm found me in Connecticut. I had doubled back after you sent me home and killed the man who killed my sister after Dr. Whitly put him in the hospital. He told me he'd figured it out but that he couldn't turn me in. It was the least of his worries. You were missing and he only hoped he was right in believing I could find you before it was too late. I knew it had to be Nicholas. I don't much believe in coincidence, certainly not when it comes to him." She explained removing the chains from my wrists.
"We have to find him. Now." I urged trying to stand up.
"We will. Lily, you have to let me bandage your wounds or any little movement could cause you to bleed out." She insisted laying her hand on my right shoulder pushing me gently back into the chair.
Reluctantly, I agreed. She wrapped the knife wounds and various other cuts with gauze before she helped me stand up and half carried me out to her car.
I stopped her briefly to ask for her phone which she pulled from her pocket before I allowed her to help me sit in her passenger seat.
"Powell?" Dani's voice answered; I could hear sirens in the background.
"Dani, it's me." I told her.
"Lily? Oh my God! You're alive?" Dani exclaimed as I sat in Sophie's car while she drove me back into the city.
"Is Malcolm with you?" I asked my head still kind of hazy.
"No. We left him at the hospital with his mom." She told me.
"The hospital? What hospital? Why?" I asked my head spinning again.
"New York General. Lily, Gil was stabbed trying to get Jessica from Endicott's house roughly an hour ago. Jessica fought back. Struck Endicott in the head with a porcelain serving dish, drove Gil's car into Endicott's car and brought Gil into the ER." She explained.
"Gil was stabbed? I'm on my way there now."
"JT and I got a warrant for Endicott's arrest. We're on our way to his place to pick him up now."
"Be careful Dani. Don't underestimate him." I sighed and hung up.
"I need you to take me to New York General Hospital." I told Sophie rubbing my forehead anxiously.
"Okay. What's going on?"
"Gil must have challenged Nicholas over Jessica. He's been stabbed. Probably in surgery now." I sighed.
"I have no idea who Gil and Jessica are." She mused making me laugh.
"Gil was the patrolman who arrested Martin Whitly twenty one years ago. Jessica is Malcolm's mother." I explained still smiling slightly.
I could see myself being friends with Sophie should we all survive the next few hours.
"And they're an item?"
"They had a thing a few years after the arrest but she ended it. It's not outside the realm of possibility that they rekindled it." I shrugged causing me to wince.
"Be careful of those shoulder wounds." She warned me as we pulled up outside the hospital.
"Can you wait for me? I have a bad feeling about all this." I asked looking over at her.
"Of course. Be careful, Lily." She told me.
I climbed out of the car and rushed into the hospital.
"Dr. Russell? Are you alright?" A blond nurse asked me anxiously running around the front desk.
"Gil Arroyo? He was brought in less than an hour ago?" I asked ignoring her question.
"Lily?" Jessica's voice came from behind me.
"Jessica." I sighed turning around.
"My God! Are you alright? Gil said..." She rushed forward to hug me likely concerned by my blood soaked clothing.
I winced as I tried to return her hug.
"What's wrong? What happened?" She asked looking at me.
"It's a very long story. I'll be okay. Where's Malcolm?" I asked.
"I don't know. Dani and JT left to arrest Nicholas and I went to get coffee for Malcolm and I while we waited for news on Gil. Oh, Lily. It was horrible." She shook her head.
"He's going to be alright, Jess. He's strong, he'll make it." I assured her.
"When I got back with the coffee Malcolm was gone. I don't know where he went."
"Okay. Okay. I'll find him." I told her touching her shoulder and pulling out Sophie's cellphone again.
"Blackwell?" Ashlyn answered her phone, her voice annoyed.
"It's me." I said as strongly as I could.
"Lily?" She exclaimed, her voice suddenly anxious.
"I'm okay, Ash. I need you to track Malcolm's phone for me." I told her.
"Of course. Give me just a minute." She said clearly still shaken after news of my abduction.
"Stay here and wait for news on Gil. I'm going to find Malcolm. Everything's going to be okay, Jess." I told her while still waiting for Ashlyn.
I rushed back out to the parking lot where Sophie waited for me.
"He's at the Whitly estate." Ashlyn told me.
"Thank you, Ash. I'll call you back when I can." I hung up and turned to Sophie.
"Gil's like a second father to Malcolm. For him to decide to leave while he's still in surgery means something has to be very wrong. There has to be a good reason for him to leave." I told her before directing her to Jessica's.
The phone vibrated with a text message.
The last message Malcolm's phone received was from his sister, Ainsley and it read: "Come home now. 9-1-1." Ashlyn's text read.
I sighed.
"What? What is it?" Sophie asked.
"After Jessica saved Gil from Nicholas he must have gone back to Jessica's after her and found Malcolm's sister Ainsley there. She texted him that he needed to come home." I explained.
"Nicholas thinks you're dead. He'll throw that at Malcolm and Ainsley to try to break them." She told me.
"Step on it. I'll get you out of any ticket they try to give you." I instructed.
She sped through the streets towards the home she'd once been held in to save the children of a serial killer who had every intention of killing her over twenty one years ago.
"Do you have a gun?" I asked as we rounded the corner onto Jessica's street.
"In the glovebox." She told me.
I pulled the pistol and flipped the safety as she pulled up outside Number Three.
"I can help." She told me as I hopped out of the car.
"There are tunnels under the house that Martin used to get victims in and out of the basement." I told her.
I directed her to the entrance of the tunnel in an old water plant a couple miles away and she took off.
I rushed up the stairs and breached the home nearly silently with the pistol out in front of me.
"No you won't. The system is mine." Nicholas yelled at Malcolm taking a step forward towards him.
"You couldn't even save your..."
Ainsley grabbed ahold of Nicholas' hair from behind and slit his throat from ear to ear literally cutting him off. He turned around and stared at her aghast as he bled profusely. She just stared at him as if in a trance.
Ainsley screamed angrily and began furiously stabbing Nicholas in the torso. I ran over to Malcolm with Sophie's pistol gripped tightly in my hand. He stood across the room from the violence his sister was perpetrating in shock. He reached out and grabbed my waist protectively pulling me back against him gently as if by instinct unable to see my wounds or the blood covering my torso.
Nicholas was dead before his body hit the ground from at least six stab wounds and the gash across his throat.
Ainsley stood across the room from Malcolm and I covered in blood with the knife still in her hand her face emotionless. I raised the pistol slightly waiting to see what she was going to do.
I loved Ainsley as if she were my own sister but if she rushed us with that knife I'd have no choice but to shoot her.
Sophie rushed in from the tunnels with another gun in her hand. She raised it up towards Ainsley.
"Sophie, don't!" I called out raising my right arm to her the gun in my hand pointed towards the ceiling in a nonthreatening manner.
Sophie stopped and looked at me.
At the sound of my voice, as if coming out of her trance Ainsley dropped the knife and looked at her brother over my shoulder.
"What did you do?" Malcolm choked out his grip tightening on my waist.
"What just happened?" Ainsley whispered.
"Malcolm? Lily?" She said our names when we didn't immediately answer her.
"It'll be okay." Malcolm told his sister in a small desperate voice.
I heard Malcolm's phone ring.
"Hello?" He answered.
I couldn't hear the other end of the conversation but by the tremor that shook the hand still on my hip I knew it was his father.
"And she took yours." He said, his voice shaking.
Malcolm hung up and the four of us stood nearly motionless staring at one another.

TO BE CONTINUED...

See you for Season 2!